# Greatest Three Episode Run of a TV Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947 "2019-05-14T15:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/1 "2019-05-14T15:30:35Z")
I have been rewatching Star Trek TNG and in the third season back to back to back we got “Yesterday’s Enterprise” “The Offspring” and “Sins of the Father”. All three of those are among the strongest episodes the series ever made and all three are in nearly every fan’s top ten list of greatest episodes of all time if not top five. One of those three is often someone’s favorite episode ever. Has any series had a stronger run of three episodes in a row? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/2 "2019-05-14T15:36:19Z")
Doctor Who (2007), Season 3: “Human Nature” “The Family of Blood” “Blink” ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/3 "2019-05-14T15:43:18Z")
The Office, Season 4: The Deposition Dinner Party Chair Model The Deposition is a surprisingly serious episode that builds to the climax of Dinner Party, which is easily one of the best episodes of the show. And then you have the fairly silly Chair Model as an epilogue and palate cleanser. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/4 "2019-05-14T16:02:30Z")
Breaking Bad; Season 5b: Ozymandias Granite State Felina ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/5 "2019-05-14T16:15:37Z")
The first three episodes of the _Battlestar Galactica_ reboot (after the initial miniseries): “33,” “Water,” and “Bastille Day.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/6 "2019-05-14T16:24:19Z")
Do three-part episodes count? If so, I’d like to nominate the _Imaginationland_ episode of _South Park_. > **[Imaginationland Episode I](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginationland_Episode_I)** > > "Imaginationland Episode I" is the tenth episode of the eleventh season and the 163rd overall episode of the American animated television series South Park. It premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on October 17, 2007. The episode was rated TV-MA LV in the United States. It is the first episode in a three-part story arc that won the 2008 Emmy for "Outstanding Animated Program for One Hour or More". The three episodes were later reissued together, along with previously unreleased foo ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/7 "2019-05-14T16:25:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Doctor Who (2007), Season 3: > > “Human Nature” > “The Family of Blood” > “Blink” Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/8 "2019-05-14T16:31:45Z")
‘The Walking Dead’ has got to be in there somewhere. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/9 "2019-05-14T16:31:58Z")
_The Sopranos_, season 5: “The Test Dream” “Long Term Parking” “All Due Respect” ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/10 "2019-05-14T16:35:09Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > Breaking Bad; Season 5b: > > Ozymandias > > Granite State > > Felina IIRC Granite State isn’t that interesting, but you could sandwich anything in between Ozymandias and Felina and have the average be utterly fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/11 "2019-05-14T16:38:29Z")
_Quantum Leap_, season 5, the “Trilogy” … er, trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/12 "2019-05-14T16:41:21Z")
The Big Bang Theory’s last two episodes of season 10 (“The Gyroscopic Collapse” and “The Long Distance Dissonance” and first episode of season 11 “The Proposal Prososal.” The middle episode had the best jaw dropping cliff hanger in TV history. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/13 "2019-05-14T17:54:34Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > IIRC Granite State isn’t that interesting, but you could sandwich anything in between Ozymandias and Felina and have the average be utterly fantastic. I agree with this. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/14 "2019-05-14T20:53:46Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > ‘The Walking Dead’ has got to be in there somewhere. IMO. Really? You’d have a hard time finding a streak of 3 episodes in that show that were good, let alone in contention for the best ever. What three episodes would you suggest are Walking Dead as its best? I wonder if for breaking bad Rabid Dog/To’jajilee/Ozymandias would fit better, since that more accurately follows the climax of the series with the other two episodes being a sort of epilogue, but… probably not. In raw quality the last three are probably it. It’s actually kind of amazing how well Breaking Bad stuck the landing. There was a while where Game of Thrones could’ve claimed it was as good as Breaking Bad (never quite as good) but they’ve really just fallen apart at the ending. Breaking Bad just kept, incredibly, getting better and better right through the end. I’m not sure we’ll ever see that again. If we were to include GoT, we’d probably look at 4.08 (The Mountain and the Viper), 4.09 (The Watchers on the Wall), 4.10 (The Children) as the best three episode run. But it’s debatable. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/15 "2019-05-14T21:50:16Z")
Firefly: \*\*Our Mrs. Reynolds Jaynestown Out Of Gas\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/16 "2019-05-14T21:52:16Z")
[AVclub just wrote about this as well. they listed Battlestar and the Office, but used different episodes. Great shows, for sure.](https://tv.avclub.com/what-s-the-strongest-3-episode-run-on-a-tv-show-1834062590) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/17 "2019-05-14T21:53:53Z")
Are we counting the run up to a big finale? There are a lot of shows who pulled out all the stops in their last few episodes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/18 "2019-05-14T22:05:32Z")
_Quantum Leap_: M.I.A. The Leap Home, Part I The Leap Home, Part III (note, this isn’t a two-part episode; it’s connected to Part I, but Part I resolves, and Part II has a great triple twist ending. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/19 "2019-05-15T15:10:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Quantum Leap_: > M.I.A. > The Leap Home, Part I > The Leap Home, Part III (note, this isn’t a two-part episode; it’s connected to Part I, but Part I resolves, and Part II has a great triple twist ending. Upon further review, and with allowances made for what I suspect is an erroneous Roman numeral, I withdraw my earlier submission. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-three-episode-run-of-a-tv-series/833947/20 "2019-05-15T15:32:06Z")
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